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How wide is the Line? How straight the path? What is it within a person driving them to take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, to uphold the laws of the city, county or state for which they serve? For so many, it is a dream of a lifetime to someday become part of the Thin Blue Line. Just last summer, Natalie Corona fulfilled a lifetime dream of receiving her commission as a police officer for the City of Davis in California and on January 10, 2019, Officer Corona was gunned down while responding to a traffic crash. She had told her father, before attending the police academy, “Dad, this is what I want to do.” Her father is a retired Colusa County Sheriff’s Deputy. No doubt her Dad is asking the same question many retired law enforcement officers ask themselves each time another officer is killed in the line of duty. Why them? Why not me?

No doubt,
most every retired police officer has faced a share of hard times, even wounds
and some debilitating injuries. This author is one of those who has shared in
instances where life was on the line and has scars and pain to remind me of the
good ol’ days. I survived. I lived
long enough to be able to complain about the pension fund and look with envy
upon the young officers who are now walking the Line, praying for them daily
because the threats are real, and the Line is narrow. I fulfilled my early life’s
dream to be a police officer like my oldest brother and I have seen, now, my son
pin on the badge. How the Line will fare for him, only the Lord knows and thankfully,
my son trusts in Christ’s capable hands.

Each year, as
the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty increases,
there are thousands of officers who bend their knees in prayer to ask the Lord’s
grace upon the families and department for each one. The Lord knows when every
sparrow falls and, so much more, when servants of the public lay down their
lives. Christ spoke highly of those who lay down their lives for others.

Recently, I
wrote an article titled Survival Strong which
I hope will appear soon in the POFCI magazine. In that article, I wrote:

“I can also assure you of two things. First, God sees everything that you do in His Name. Second, He will reward you for it some day in the not too far distant future. Keep building your foundation, keep strengthening to be survival strong, keep training, keep practicing and preparing, and NEVER FOLD.”

Again, to the family of Natalie Corona and the Davis Police Department, I send our prayers and deepest sympathies. To Natalie’s father, I give the assurance of Scripture when Jesus says, “No greater love has any man than this that he lay down his life for a friend.” May she be remembered always for her zeal and dedication to law enforcement. Would it be Natalie’s would be the last line of duty death for 2019, though we know such is not to be.

May God bless each and every officer and keep them safe, trusting in the strength of Christ.

Clouds on the horizon create a reminder of the Thin Blue LinePhoto by Daniel W. Riggs, used by permission from “Stretching the Thin Blue Line: Policing America in Times of Heightened Threat”